But straight from the restart, the Yeovil home fans were stunned when their team bowed to the convention of sportsmanship by allowing Lee Novak to run the ball into the net completely unchallenged to make it 3-3.

Second-tier Birmingham only managed to secure what it saw as a rightful victory by winning the penalty shootout 3-2.

"I think something has got to be done," Clark said. "It's always easy to give a goal back when you're leading.

"We were winning going into injury time. I'm proud of my players, every single one of them. I said to them before the penalties that whatever happens, even if they missed or scored, they have done the club proud."

Yeovil manager Gary Johnson conceded he sparked the flashpoint by urging his team to play on and not return the ball from the throw-in.

"I apologized to Lee Clark ... because, on reflection, it was ungentlemanly," Johnson said. "However, we get a bit fed up of teams kicking it out for their own players here when we're trying to get a goal back.

"I wanted us to play on but I didn't expect the Birmingham side to stand still, and didn't expect Byron to hook a goal in. I think people should look at this. How many teams are going to kick the ball out for their own players in the last minute?"